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A tell-tale sign that an artist has achieved legendary status is when their inconsequential doodles become coveted items. Such has become the case with Gerard Sekoto, whose memorabilia have become priceless artefacts.
Considered a pioneering artist, one of the first prominent black artists to appropriate a Western medium and aesthetic, Sekoto's art has been hot property at the auctioneers, fetching hundreds of thousands of pounds. This has obviously had an impact on absolutely any form of documentation about the artist, no matter how negligible. It is part of a predictable process of turning mortal creators into celebrated masters.
This collection of Sekoto drawings - artworks might be too generous a designation - has not been seen in public before, but it is not the first exhibition of works from Sekoto's Paris years (1947-1993). In 2006 the Standard Bank Gallery mounted a huge exhibition of works and memorabilia from this era, titled Gerard Sekoto - from the Paris studio. The exhibition wasn't necessarily a hit; it showed that Sekoto's art had stagnated in (self-imposed) exile.
This exhibition doesn't necessarily substantiate his talent either, as it mostly consists of rough drawings and photographs that Sekoto certainly wouldn't have intended for public display - albeit that he scratched his signature in the corner of some of his sketches (perhaps towards the end of his life he realised they might be of value). But it is by...